


Invisible String

by Fusselfriek



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: F/M, Iris West is still in the Mirror Dimension, M/M, Post-Oculus Leonard Snart, barry is sad, slowburn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:20:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28133841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fusselfriek/pseuds/Fusselfriek
Summary: After Leonard "dies" he appears again in Central City three years later. Of course, he goes to Barry to find answers on how he survived. Barry is struggling because Iris is still in the mirror dimension. The team is trying to get her out. How does the former legend fit into the picture?
Relationships: Barry Allen & Caitlin Snow, Barry Allen & Cisco Ramon, Barry Allen/Iris West, Barry Allen/Leonard Snart
Comments: 6
Kudos: 26





	1. Chapter 1

"There are no strings on me." Leonard smiled at the Time masters standing in front of him.

He had heard Barry then, whispering in his ear about how there was good in him, and then everything went white.

He came to his senses a minute later on an old sofa shoved in an abandoned warehouse. There was a faint light illuminating the dust dancing around him. He sat up and glanced around. He knew where he was, it was the place where he had last been before stepping on that cursed time ship.

With a groan, he got up and wiped a hand over his face. 

It was strange.

He felt alive.

More than that, he felt bursting with energy. He hadn't felt like that since his teenage years. He could only hope that he wasn't dead and that this wasn't hell.

But something told him that he was weirdly enough back in central city.

He left the clatter of the room behind and found the exit door. The sun was shining and for a moment he was taken aback by the sheer intensity of this beautiful day and him being alive to see it. He rolled his eyes at his own sappiness and walked behind the building.

There he found what he was looking for: His motorcycle. He was surprised that nobody had stolen it, but then this place was far out from everything and perhaps his name still struck fear in people and that's why nobody had messed with his stuff. He hoped for the latter as he checked the oil and tank. It was alright so he took it out for a ride. Soon enough he stopped in front of star labs.

He stayed on his bike, starring at the building as if it could give him the answers he needed. But walking in just wasn't what he wanted. He had done that plenty of times, but the only time he had seen Barry really shaken was when he had waited for him in his home. For coming back he wanted to make him aware he was still not the Hero Barry saw in him. So private home it was, even if he probably had to come back here to sort out what had happened to him.

It didn't take him long to find out Barry’s new address and getting in was child's play.

He sat down at the table to have a good view of the door and waited. After ten minutes he felt annoyed. The last time he had timed the encounter perfectly, he hadn't waited for more than two minutes, sitting in the chair sipping hot chocolate.

Now he was being careless.

He took off his jacket and started to sift through Barry's things. There was beer in the fridge which he helped himself to. On the counter stood a picture and it was of Barry and Iris on their wedding day.

So they were married then.

And he had never gotten an invitation.

He looked around for the current date and realized that somehow it was three years later than he thought. He hadn't just been catapulted to his home; he had been thrown into the future as well. He took the beer and the picture and sat down again.

Barry came home an hour later. He walked in and sighed. Leonard watched him closely. His speedster looked tired, hollowed out, and sad. He leaned against the door and closed his eyes. Leonard put on his most insufferable smile and drawled

„Had a rough week, Barry?"

Barry opened his eyes in surprise and stared at him. Leonard wondered about the lack of hostility when Barry asked:

"Leo? What are you doing here?"

That was new.

Leonard couldn't remember when someone had last called him that.

He did however remember his childhood self standing still and tiny in front of him.

 _He_ had been called Leo, but Barry didn't know that and he looked at him as if they were friends.

So in conclusion Barry knew someone who looked like him and went by the name Leo. He scrunched his nose up:

"Since when do you call me Leo?"

Barry looked confused, "Since you told me...wait...are you not Leonard Snart from Earth 2?"

Leonard rolled his eyes. This whole thing went very different than what he had imagined. Barry walked closer now and sat down opposite of him. He looked suspicious

"Who are you then?"

Leonard thought about how he could introduce himself without sounding too much like he cared. And the thought made him feel uneasy. What had he wanted from this?

"I'm your... enemy. Cisco calls me Captain Cold."

Barry squinted: "But you are...dead."

Upon seeing the confusion he explained shortly what had happened. Then he stilled and watched Barry's face. He still looked a bit confused but the realization dawned on him.

"You are actually Leonard Snart, from this earth, who broke into my house once."

"Bingo. Speaking of house: Where is your lovely wife? And why wasn't I invited to your wedding?"

He slid the picture towards him and smiled again, already knowing the answer, but still enjoying Barry's struggle for words.

"You were dead by then. For us, it was three years since you...Well anyway, Iris is not here.”

He looked sadly at the picture. “She is gone...inside a mirror dimension. We are trying to save her for weeks now." He sighed heavily and Leonard realized the reason Barry looked so exhausted.

"Who is Leo?"

he asked in an effort to distract and get helpful information.

"Oh, he is Leonard Snart from Earth two. He is a hero and uses his cold gun to fight Nazis. And he is a lot nicer than you. He never broke into my apartment." Barry smiled at Leonard.

"So a boring version of me then, I guess."

He crossed his arms and contemplated the thought for a bit. It didn't sit right with him that there had been a nicer version of him running around, probably ruining his reputation and making friends with his enemies. And the way Barry looked at him was different somehow. More open and trusting. He wondered what had caused this shift; his doppelganger or his sacrifice? He looked down at his hands fiddling with the label of the beer bottle. He should go, it was time and yet he still had so many questions.

Barry looked at him as if he could read his mind and then said: "I don't know if you already have a place to sleep tonight, but you can have the couch if you want."

Leonard was shocked by the offer but he quickly recovered and quipped:

"You're gonna let a thief stay the night?"

Barry got up and walked to the kitchen counter where he leaned against it. "You're a member of the legends and you gave your life to save them. I guess that makes you a good guy."

"It doesn't make me less of a thief." Leonard countered.

"Well suit yourself. But I guess you’re gonna need us tomorrow to sort out how you survived and everything. I will get some clothes for you and you can decide if you want to stay or leave." He went into another room, presumably the bedroom. Leonard rolled his eyes. It was tempting to stay and steal something, but he knew that Barry was right about him needing help. He could go but it was late and his sister would be pissed and confused and he wasn't gonna sleep in the stupid warehouse. So staying here was the best option. He rolled his eyes and moved over to the couch. He sat down and crossed his arms. If he had to take the help he was making sure Barry knew he wasn't happy about it.

Barry however grinned a lot when he came back and dumped some clothes next to Leonard.


	2. Chapter 2

Barry lay awake in his bed.

It was dark all around but he couldn't sleep.

Iris wasn't here and that was the main problem.

He missed her and couldn't help her. And then the whole thing with Captain Cold happened.

How was he alive? It has been three years and the words of the Speedforce looking like him still rang in his ears:

"You wanna know what inspired Leonard Snart to sacrifice himself? It was you, Barry Allen!"

The words had haunted him sometimes in quiet moments.

He had felt a pang of guilt every time he had seen the cold gun or the other Leonard. He wondered how he would react to see himself. Probably flirt with him.

Barry smiled. But then fear hit him.

What if he wasn't real?

What if his mind had been playing tricks on him.

He couldn't sleep lately and it was beginning to take a toll on him. Maybe he had imagined the whole thing?

With sudden termination, he pushed the covers off him and walked into the living room.

But judging from the guy sitting in Barry's sweatpants on the couch and watching him approach he hadn't been dreaming or imagining anything.

Leonard was starring quietly at him obviously waiting for an explanation why Barry was here and he nervously ran a hand through his hair and chuckled: "Sorry, I thought maybe you weren't real or something."

Leonard looked slightly amused. "Why? Can you see dead people?"

"I saw you once in the speed force," Barry answered without thinking.

Leonards smile dropped, he stretched out his arm over the sofa and grabbed Barry's wrist.

"I hope that is proof enough that I'm real. Now you should get some sleep."

Barry felt like all the nervous energy that had kept him awake all these weeks was sucked out of him. He felt completely tired. He yawned and told Leonard that he was sure that he was real and left before dropping onto his bed and immediately falling asleep.

When he woke up the next morning he felt better than he had in months. Ever since Iris had started acting strangely he had had trouble sleeping, and then everything else had happened and now he sometimes lay awake all night trying not to think about fake iris sleeping next to him... sleeping with him. Even the thought of it made his skin crawl. But he pushed the thought away for now and got up.

After he zoomed around to shower and get ready he walked into the living room. Leonard was fully dressed and awake sipping coffee at the counter. There was a second cup waiting there and Barry took it grateful and surprised. They stood and drank quietly.

"Thank you," Barry said after a while.

Leonard said nothing but smiled his usually smug smile. After that Barry barreled some food into him and proceeded to ask his guest if it would be okay for him to take him with him while he ran.

Leonard chuckled, "Sure, as long as I don't end up with a four-hour walk back to central city." Barry smiled, "As long as you are not trying to rob us."

They left it at that and Barry took him to Star labs.


	3. Chapter 3

Barry brought him right into the Cortex where Caitlin and Cisco were talking about the mirror dimension. When they entered Caitlin spun around. Before Barry could say anything she had crossed the space and flung her arms around Leonard.

"It's so good to see you!" She crooned.

Leonard was taken aback. Nobody ever hugged him. He didn't do feelings, his dad had seen to that and the only one who ever hugged him was his sister.

This was new and very strange, even if she thought it was his hero doppelganger.

He hated that guy already.

Carefully he put some space between them right when Barry said: "This isn't Leo, Caitlin."

Caitlin stepped back and stared at him in astonishment. "So is he another doppelganger?"

"No, he is our...I mean he is the earth one Leonard Snart." He explained.

"No!" Cisco said and pointed an excusing finger at Barry, "Did you go back in Time to get him again? You need to stop doing that."

Barry held up his hands. "I didn't do anything this time."

Leonard watched in amusement how team flash was looking at him. It was something between fear and curiosity. The last time he had been in here their faces were equally shocked but it had been more fun for him because he had been there to help. This time he needed them and it dampened the joy a bit.

"Right," He smiled, "I'm happy to answer all your questions, but I also need to know how I am not dead."

* * *

Len sat on the examination bed and watched Caitlin take some of his blood.

"I'm sorry, it is the last test for now." "Nothing I can't handle." He winked and she turned away from him.

She started running tests and since it had been the last thing she needed, Len got up and wandered aimlessly around Star labs. It felt strange to him, that nobody was watching him or telling him where not to go. He found his way to a room full of tech.

Cisco and Barry were talking there.

"We need to find a solution. She's been in there forever!" Barry flung a screw on the ground and grunted frustratedly. "I can't do this anymore."

"We're gonna find a way, Barry." Cisco touched Barry's shoulder. "We're gonna save Iris."

Len felt like he was prying and cleared his throat to make himself noticed. "Where exactly is Iris?" he asked when they both turned around.

"I told you…"

"mirror dimension yeah," Leonard finished Barry’s sentence, " But what is it? How long has she been there?"

“Alright, so.." Barry started, but this time Cisco interrupted him. "Are you really going to tell Captain Cold this kind of Information?" Barry looked embarrassed for a bit, "I just...I mean he helped saving Iris before?"

"Yeah, cause he likes stealing."

Before Leonard could come up with a good comeback, Caitlin came through the door. "Guys! I think you wanna see that."

Len followed the others to the cortex, where Caitlin had projected his test results on a big screen. "So, this is his DNA before he died, alright?" she said looking around.

"How did you get this?" Len frowned.

Caitlin looked slightly annoyed at him. "Well you blackmailed Barry into deleting this information and you came into my lab. Of course, I am gonna get some DNA sample. You kidnapped me too, remember?"

"I'm impressed." he smiled at her.

She ignored him and changed the tab. "This is his DNA now. See the difference?“

"There were two "yes's" and one "no".

"What? I'm not a scientist." Leonard crossed his arms defensively.

"You could be. You are smart...you could..." Leonard silenced Barry with a look. "Just tell me what's going on."

"Okay so your DNA is completely changed since you were last here. It's like it's been ripped apart and then put together in a different way. My guess is, that when the oculus exploded you were hit with a massive amount of temporal energy. This is how you time-traveled here. But this can only be possible if your body found a way to absorb the energy. In your scan, I found traces of dark matter. You were in central city the night the particle accelerator exploded. The dark matter in your body absorbed the energy and changing your DNA in the process. You know how different criminals here have different powers. You're sucking Energy. Just now you take the energy in the air to sustain yourself."

Cisco laughed: “Do I have to come up with a better name now? Something with suck…” Leonard turned to him, “No, I like Captain Cold”

Cisco nodded but couldn’t completely suppress the pleased smile forming on his lips.

“That’s what you did.” Barry said remembering, “When you touched me last night, I could sleep immediately after that.” The others except Leonard stared at him.

“He touched you?” Cisco said, “Last night?” asked Caitlin.

Barry looked around and blushed, “No…not like that. He just stayed on my couch. And I couldn’t sleep and he touched my hand and then I could sleep. That’s all.”

“I still have so many questions.” Cisco graced Cold with a suspicious look. Leonard repressed the urge to wink at him but then his smile faded.

He stared at his hands: "If I can take energy from people, does that mean I could kill someone like this?"

The others looked at him but he just looked at Caitlin, "Uhm. Yeah, I guess. But you didn't hurt me when I took your blood."

"You were wearing gloves."

"Yeah, I don't know. We have to take more tests. Cisco, could you make something to measure the energy intake?"

"I'm on it." Cisco and Caitlin went away to their computers and Barry turned to Leonard. "Hey, I know..."

But at this moment there was an alarm blaring and Cisco called: " Robbery at the bank."

"Sorry," Barry said and was gone.

Leonard felt suddenly very alone and even a tad jealous. When had he last taken the time to make a plan and steal something? Playing the hero was fun and all, but he missed the thrill in his blood when he cracked a safe and knew he had counted correctly.

He let himself out of the building.

The weather hadn't changed, it was still sunny but he realized that it wasn't that warm.

He knew that it was mid-November now, he had checked the date. There was a chill in the atmosphere that he enjoyed. It reminded him of the cool inside of the ice cream van he spend so many summers helping his uncle.

He stood outside of Starlaps and could not decide what he wanted to do. He needed to see his sister, but if his new powers were something he couldn't control, then maybe it was a risk he wasn't willing to take.

And he also needed a phone. He knew where to get a burner phone but with that came another thing he had to figure out.

Barry hadn't really said anything but it was obvious that he believed in Leonard's good side now. He was willing to put everything behind him and welcome him into the team. But Leonard wasn't a good guy, not by any means. Yes, he had helped the legends and saved them, but he was back now. Back in Central city and there were people who knew who he was. People who would be happy or angry that he was back. People who needed to be put in line again. He couldn't just become some vigilante.

He was a thief and he had always been one. He never hung around the wrong people or fell off the tracks, he was born one of the wrong people. But he knew now that Barry had been right with his sentiment that there was good in him. He looked at his bike and suddenly knew where he could go where nobody would touch him.


	4. Chapter 4

Barry caught the bad guy easily. He was just a boring criminal with no powers and certainly not the wit and intelligence as Captain Cold. But after the first guy was brought to justice, there were more accidents and other criminal activities so that it was 3 hours later when he arrived back at star labs. His friends were doing stuff and when he asked about Leonard they just shrugged. He knew getting this kind of information could be very scary at first. He still remembered the first time he used his powers. It had been utterly terrifying. He had to find him fast before something bad could happen. Luckily he knew where he had to look.

* * *

Saints and Sinners hadn't changed much since the last time he had come here. It almost felt like a déjà vu when he entered the pub. There were the dark and gloomy room and a couple of early drunks playing billiard. They looked as if they were part of the inventory and provided a stark contrast to his clean-cut attire. He didn’t belong here, certainly not as the flash, but also not as someone working for the police. In an effort to not attract attention he focused on the main task at hand. Leonard was indeed here, sitting alone in a booth with a beer in front of him, the only difference was that he wasn't eating fries and that he looked even unhappier now than he had then. Barry sauntered over and slid into the opposite seat.

"I knew I find you here," he smiled but Leonard didn't return it.

He just stared down at his hands. "What now?"

"I can take you back to star labs..." But he stopped himself and started over, "or we could talk about it here... How are you?"

"Great. Thanks."

"Come on. I know it can be scary to have a new power."

Leonard leaned back and eyed him, "Ohh really?" His voice was dripping with sarcasm, "Was it hard for you to wake up to the fact that you could run really fast? Because _this_ " he showed his hands, "is not a power. It's a curse. I could kill someone by shaking their hand."

"You don't know that yet. And you didn't kill me. You helped me, remember?"

"That wasn't on purpose."

Barry smiled lightly, "It kind of was. You tried to prove to me that you were real. That would have helped me, even if you didn't take my extra energy.

And listen I didn’t just wake up one morning with powers. When the particle accelerator exploded, I was hit by lightning and I was in a coma for months. And when I finally woke up I thought I was just going to go back to normal, but then strange things happened. I did things unconsciously, like seeing things happen in slow motion or running without meaning too. I couldn’t control them and sometimes I could not stop them. At first, I was just vibrating and running into stuff. And I knew then that something was different with me, maybe too different to ever have a normal life. I couldn’t tell Iris for almost a year. I was scared. But I got through this because I had amazing friends like Caitlin and Cisco helping me train and control my powers. They were there for me when I needed them and now _we_ will help you through this."

Leonard's face didn't soften. "We aren't friends. We're enemies."

Barry wanted to disagree strongly, but he thought better of it and said instead: "Frenemies, at least."

Of course, he knew that Leonard wasn't technically a good guy and that they hadn’t been friends when he had been in central city, but Barry hadn't spent the last three years telling everybody about the sacrifice he had made for the legends just so he could come back and be his enemy again. He had proven that there was good in him and now he had to figure out how to move forward. Barry already had a pretty good idea on how that could work. Why not have a team member that could put people to sleep? It certainly would be useful the next time Grod would show his face.

But Leonard didn't even smile at his joke. He just got up, left the beer, and motioned Barry to follow him. Barry sighed but did it anyway. When they met outside Leonard said, “See you there." and mounted his bike. Barry stayed back and watched the former criminal drive off. He wished things were easier. He waited for a little longer just so he could arrive at Star labs at the same time as Leonard.

* * *

Back in the cortex, Cisco was working on connecting an electrical circuit to a sensor. When both of them appeared, he looked at Barry, "I managed to hook up this circuit with a lot of energy. All he has to do now is to touch it here and we can see the intake on this computer." He moved around it so he could simultaneously look at the screen and his device. "Go on than Captain Cold."

Leonard moved forward and pressed one hand on top of the cable. The electrical buzzing vanished immediately.

"Huh." Cisco looked unhappy.

Barry grew nervous, "What happened?"

"He...I think he took all the energy out of it."

"What does that mean?" Leonard asked and Barry could swear that behind the cool drawl he could hear the nervousness.

"That was roughly the energy needed to power a freezer for a day." 

"Meaning..." Caitlin said, "If you would touch a human like that, they would die."

There was silence in the room.

Barry could almost hear what the others were thinking. They had invited a man into their workplace that had not only kidnapped both of them on different instances, but he had hurt Dante and Barry, and the time they had had a reluctant agreement he used it to free other criminals. And this guy had now the power to kill everybody in this room just by touching them. Just because he had joined the legends and helped them with Iris didn’t mean that he would not turn around and use his powers against them as soon as he got what he wanted. On a surface level, Barry agreed with them, but only as far as that Leonard could still be bad. But all of them had the potential to be bad. He had created Savitar and Caitlin had done things as Killer Frost and even Cisco was just a hairstyle and a tragedy away from becoming Reverb.

"Well, he didn't kill me." Barry tried to break the tension. "So how do we explain that?"

Caitlin who had taken a few steps back started somewhat nervous, "I think I know why." She looked at Leonard, "How do you feel?"

Leonard shot her a questioning look.

"When you touched the cable, how did you feel then?" She clarified.

Leonard rolled his eyes. "Angry."

"And last night when you touched Barry?"

"Annoyed?"

"Why?"

Leonard gritted his teeth, "I don't know, he looked tired, I just wanted him to sleep."

Caitlin nodded, "So you felt different emotions and you took different amounts of energy. I think that is the key. Your powers are linked to your emotions. If you're angry and you want to hurt you do this," she pointed to the cable, "and if you're in a better headspace you don't take all the energy. So in order to control your powers, you need to learn to focus your emotions."

Cisco nodded, "I think I can create something where you can practice that. But it will take a while. So for now…" he rummaged in a drawer and produced a pair of slim gloves. He threw them at Leonard who caught them with ease.

"Whose are they?" He asked when they fitted perfectly.

"Leo, your doppelganger. You should be able to move around freely with these, just don't kiss anybody, uh angrily." Leonard turned to move.

Barry met Caitlin’s eyes. They went to the lounge and Barry made some coffee.

"Hey", he started, "Thanks for helping him. He's really on edge..."

Caitlin shook her head, "I'm not doing this for him. I'm doing this because that's who we are. I know that you see him as a hero and a legend, but to me, he is just a ruthless criminal, who will screw us over as soon as he gets the chance."

Barry felt unsure of how to respond to that. He stirred his coffee thoughtfully until Caitlin spoke again, “Just don’t put him on our team okay?”

“But he has those powers now. So if he isn't on our team..."

"Then he has to figure out what to do. Or if he still wants to be a criminal you have to fight him. Or give him the cure, though I'm not sure if this could help because his powers are different from the other metas we met."

“What do you mean?” She took a sip of her coffee, “He was hit by two different energy waves: The dark matter and the temporal energy.” “So what exactly does that make him?” “I don’t know, yet.”


End file.
